Protect Me
by Random Dice
Summary: Her lower lip trembled, she bit it to try and stop the flood of tears that threatened to jump from behind her eyelids, but nothing would help. The first tear made a track down the curve of her cheek before dropping off halfway through.


**Title:** Protect Me  
**Author:** Random Dice  
**Fandom:** Victorious  
**Pairings:** Jade/Cat  
**Rating:** T  
**Spoilers:** No?  
**Summary:** Jade and Beck break up, Jade seems to be taking it well, but Cat knows differently. Kinda dark at one point.  
**Author's Note: **Sorry if this is OOC, but the thought of Jade punching a mirror was my inspiration, I just had to try, enjoy! P.S, does anyone know how to take off those spaces above, I tried the single spacing, then to double spacing, back to single, but it's not working...Can someone help? Nevermind! I figured it out!

Beck left Jade.

For Tori.

And the group didn't see anything wrong with it. Andre thought it was pretty messed up, he was friends with Tori, but Jade was who his loyalties lied with almost all of the time. He did nothing, just watched as Jade glared at Tori and Beck cuddling on the other side of the table, disregarding Jade's feelings.

Besides glaring more than usual, Jade seemed to be taking the break up well. She was alone more often than not, but Jade liked solitude, Jade liked being with herself, Jade liked being alone, it was just how she was, how she's always been.

Jade absentmindedly fiddled with her eyebrow piercing, rolling it back and forth, twisting the end stud off part way to screw it back on, pushed it up and down, before just rolling it again to correct its self on her face. She looked on with disinterest at her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend, a girl who couldn't stand Jade and the feeling traveled back through to her.

Her finger nails with half warn off black nail polish gripped her inner thigh, a place where no one could see her weakness of anger. Her calm indifference was to stay intact and if they saw she was bothered by the newly coupled people across from her, they would say something, and Jade hated being talked to. It bothered her more than Tori Vega herself.

Her icy blue orbs slid over her friends faces. Andre had the decency to look ashamed at the riff in the little group they had constructed. A grimace marred his features whenever Jade, Beck and Tori were in the same room and stayed there until Jade or Beck and Tori left his sight. It was sad, and he told Robbie so, not knowing that Jade was just around the corner.

Robbie, though never Jade's friend, appeared smug, a smirk being sent in Jade's general direction under his stupid rectangle glasses while Rex didn't face Jade at all, he was quieter since the boy and girl got together. Even though Robbie talked for him, Rex had a mind of his own, Jade assumed that Robbie had a split personality and Rex let him deal with that.

Trina, even stupid, oblivious Trina noticed the change and was a little disappointed in her sister, at least that's what it looked like. Her pitiful gaze fell on Jade on more than one occasion, and Jade, ever watchful, noticed she was at least trying to be discreet.

When Jade's eyes wandered to the last leg of the group, the red velvet hair colored girl, little Cat Valentine, Jade was surprised, even in her angry little mind. Cat looked seething mad, not just Cat mad _I'll-get-over-it-in-a-few-seconds_ mad, but _Jade-pissed_ kinda mad. Her brown eyes simmered with uncontrolled anger that Jade had no idea where it came from. She'd never seen her even close to this kind of mad and it was unnerving.

She had to go.

With a swiftness that surprised even her, Jade was on her feet, book bag in hand and off, anywhere any from where she was now. Away from her ex, away from her frienemy, away from Trina and Andre's pity looks, away from the nerd and his puppet. Away from Cat's anger.

She found herself in the bathroom, an abandoned bathroom in the far East part of the school, where no one would find her. It was a small bathroom, only two stalls that took up much of the room. The walls were a dark grey, matching the stall doors. The mirror and sink were in a nook in the wall. The sink, once white, dulled with the use it had gotten, the mirror, not very big, four feet wide and three feet tall. The room was dirty, no one used it, dust and grime and dirt, stuck to every surface, yet all Jade could do was look in the mirror, at herself.

Her skin paler than normal, her eyes duller. Light brown hair, striped in a wide variety of colors, hung in loose curls around her shoulders. Her silver barbell in her eyebrow, under the skin and small hairs, even seemed to lose all the shine at which Jade had been sure to keep it at. Her nose stud, small, and for the most part nearly undetectable, matched her other facial piercing.

Her blue and white flannel button down shirt that hugged her abdomen fit just right, but still had a too big feeling on Jade. She gripped her sink, her hands turning white under the pressure. She dropped her head, closing her eyes. Anger clutched her. Held on so tight, Jade felt she couldn't breath; all she could do was attempt to calm down like her Mother taught her when she began to show signs of a huge temper.

It didn't help.

_Nothing_ helped.

Beck left her for that skank, that _bitch_ over her, if he had just left for no reason, Jade would have preferred that. But to say she didn't care enough, didn't show him enough love? It was laughable; he knew what he was getting into when he started dating her. She didn't do that normal couple-y things, she wasn't cold, just reserved and her own boyfriend couldn't accept that.

Tori, who messed everything up, who lost him his job, got him in trouble at every twist and turn, thought Jade angrily, Tori who laughed and smiled, Tori who held hands with him, Tori who kissed him in public, Tori who said she loved him in small whispers, Tori who…was everything Jade wasn't.

Her lower lip trembled, she bit it to try and stop the flood of tears that threatened to jump from behind her eyelids, but nothing would help. The first tear made a track down the curve of her cheek before dropping off halfway through and once that first tear left, the rest followed its example.

She let out a sob: a frustrated, angry, sad sob. Her knees shook, but she steeled them, she wouldn't fall. No, she refused to fall, crying was bad enough, she wouldn't, _couldn't_ let her body curl into its self like she wanted it too.

It was too much for her, too much for her to deal with, especially in the middle of a school day.

Before knowing what she was doing, Jade released the poor sink from her iron grip, pulled back and let it fly. Her fist connected with the mirror. A big section from the top broke off, pulling a fourth of the mirror down, slicing the top of Jade's hand open and fell on the counter, shattering into even more little pieces. Her knuckles ripped and tore against the broken bits of the mirror still behind her closed fist.

"Jade!" It was a frantic cry and through the broken mirror, through the spider webbed cracks, Jade could see a flash of bright red hair. Small hands pulled her away from the sink, Jade fell against the wall and slid down, Cat followed her down, holding the Goth girl's hand in her own.

"Oh, Jade." Cat said in her light, airy voice. It was sad though, something the pierced girl rarely heard from the beauty in front of her. Blood was everywhere. It dripped from open wounds, slipped off her pale hand, onto Cat's hands, onto Jade's pants, on Cat's bare legs. The blood showed no signs of stopping and even the airhead Cat saw this. She took off her jacket and gently wrapped it around Jade's injured hand.

Jade watched her, silently, the way Jade tended to do. Seeing the worry lines on her small friends face, Jade muttered and small, "Sorry." Cat said nothing, focusing on the job at hand the way she her Daddy taught her. When she was almost done, she dared a glance at the teen who sat crumpled in front of her. She almost wished she didn't.

Jade looked haggard, tired, exhausted, drawn. Her walls were down, too emotionally spent to care to put them back up. Cat saw her pain, both physical and emotional, "Why did you do that?"

It was a simple question, so simple that the Goth felt stupid when she couldn't find an answer. She shrugged, wincing when she felt her muscles flex in her hand, "I don't know."

Cat was quiet, rolling the words in her mouth before asking, "Is this about Tori? And Beck?" Jade stiffened, and moved to pull her hand away from Cat, but Cat held her wrist to keep her still. "Is it?"

"Does it really matter?"

"It does when you go punching mirrors." Jade rolled her eyes.

"It was just one." The redhead kept her gaze locked into Jade's.

"And that's enough to seriously hurt you." Cat insisted. "Is it?" She asked back to the original question. Jade narrowed her eyes into slits.

"I really don't think that's your business." Jade snapped, almost instantly regretting it when Cat recoiled, but Jade was in defense mode and didn't really care. She needed to get out, to leave and Cat Valentine was her only obstacle.

"I'm not going to leave until you answer me, is it?"

"I don't have to answer you, now let. Me. Go." Jade snarled, baring her white teeth.

"No! I won't!" The younger girl cried out.

"It doesn't concern you Cat!"

"What's that suppose to mean?" Cat screamed, getting over emotional, which is what Jade wanted, Cat tended to storm out when she was like this, she needed to push just a bit further.

"It means my life is mine! Yours is yours, stay away from mine, I don't need your help. Stay away from me."

"I can help you, Jade!"

"No you can't, no one can! Just leave me alone!" The pierced girl yelled, not noticing tears fall from her eyes.

"Why are you crying?" Cat asked in a soft voice.

"Why do you care?" Asked Jade in a biting tone.

"Because I care about you." Cat told her.

"No! No, no, no. No one does."

"Is this about Tori?"

"Yes!" Jade blurted out in a scream of desperation to get Cat to leave her. "This is about that, that, that _whore_! She just steals my boyfriend from under me and rubs it in my face and I'm just…" Jade stops at what she just revealed and expects Cat to defend her friend, but she smiles sadly.

"Just what Jade?"

"Angry." The Gothic girl whispered. "All the time and I can't…I can't make it go away. I don't know how." Jade ducked her head, letting her chin fall against her chest.

"Why does Tori make you angry?" Jade was silent, moving her fingers in rhythm to a song on a piano, hitting imaginary chords on her black jeans.

"She's so nice." Jade answered quietly. "She's affectionate, she loves him and tells him all the time, she makes friends so easily, she's so…pretty."

At her admission, Cat fell into a world of disbelief. "You're nice." Jade snorted. "You are! Remember when we first met? I was getting picked on by those losers and you kicked their butts! I never knew a guy could cry so hard." Jade laughed lightly, but anything was better than nothing. "You hug me all the time. That's pretty affectionate. People have trouble being your friend because they don't understand how great you are." Cat reached under Jade's chin with her index finger and raised her head so their eyes could meet.

"You are beautiful. You're unique, something different. You're dark and twisty, and wonderfully gorgeous." Cat cupped Jade's face, rubbing her thumb over dried up salty tracks on her cheek. "I love how silky your skin is; I always wanted to touch it." She murmured to herself. Cat leaned forward, careful of the bloody jacket and hand that was incased in it and kissed Jade's cheek, just under her eye.

"Cat?" The redhead said nothing, just kissed little spots on the older girl's face. Her eyebrow, her forehead, her eye lid, her chin, the corner of her mouth then just hovered over her lips.

"Cat?" Jade tried again, wetting her lips, Tori and Beck far from her mind.

"I want to kiss you."

"Then do it."

Cat pushed her lips the last few centimeters, softly pressing them to Jade's. It was testing the waters. Cat's lips were soft, oh so soft from all the lip balm she wore and tasted like cotton candy. Her upper lip were between Jade's, caressing the Goth's lower lip, sucking gently. Jade's lips were smooth, wet and smooth. Not adding to much pressure, just lightly brushing Cat's. The normally hyperactive girl pulled away.

"Cat…" Jade whimpered, _whimpered _after only one kiss, one of the tenderest kisses she had ever experienced.

"Jade." Cat smiled, not moving to far from her girl.

"I'm lightheaded." Jade muttered, resting her forehead on Cat's.

"From your hand? I'm sorry Jade, I thought-" Jade dropped a quick kiss on Cat's lips.

"Not only from my hand, but I think we should go to the nurse, I most likely need bandages." Cat pulled away, stood and helped Jade to her feet. Picking up the Goth girl's bag, she moved under the injured girl's arm to help steady her and they walked to the nurse.

The other kids looked at them weird, not that they minded, it _was_ weird. Both covered in blood, Jade West, the badass, leaning on Cat Valentine, the sweetheart, with her head against hers, it just wasn't right. Once in the nurse's office, Mrs. Carmichael, the nurse, called Jade's Mother to come get her and take her to the hospital.

Cat held Jade's right hand, while the other girl rested her head on the wall behind her, eyes closed, breathing through the pain she was now in. Andre came running in, breathless and panting, his hand wrapped around the doorway to slow him down and he looked at his friends.

"Jeez, it is true, what'd you do to your hand, girl?" Jade merely grunted. Cat pet her face, pushing back a few stray pieces of hair before turning to her guy friend.

"A mirror attacked her; she had to hit it to defend herself." Andre simply looked confused, not really knowing what Lil' Red was saying.

"I punched a mirror." Jade clarified, cracking an eye open to stare at him. "She's attempting to be nice, not wanting me to sound like an idiot for putting my fist through a mirror."

"Oh, you're not an idiot Hon," Cat cooed.

"Yeah," Andre said, ignoring, but not missing, Cat's term of endearment. "I'm surprised it took this long for you to crack." He gave her a crooked smile, which she returned half heartedly.

"Who else knows about my hand?"

"The whole school," Jade groaned. "No one knows exactly what happened, just that you hurt yourself somehow. I won't tell no one 'bout what really happen, promise." He turned to Cat. "What are you gunna do with the money?"

"Probably buy a new jacket." She looked pointedly at Jade's hand, wrapped in the once-light blue jacket, but was a dark purple from the blood.

"What money?" Jade asked, both eyes open and looking back and forth between her two friends.

"The money from the bet." Andre casually said. "Everyone was bettin' on when you'd snap. Cat won. That girl's good."

"You bet on my mental state of mind?" Jade went to throw up her hands, but Cat held her right one and her left hurt to even think of moving it. "Ow!" she hissed. "Unbelievable, I can't believe you guys."

"Aw, Jadey, I'm sorry. I'll split the money with you-"

"Damn straight you're splitting the money with me-"

"And I'll buy you dinner," Cat whispered in Jade's ear so Andre wouldn't hear. "And I'll kiss you and let you kiss me." She brushed her lips against Jade's cheek.

Slumping down in her chair, Jade grumbled a "Fine." Andre watched them and opened his mouth to ask something, wagging his finger between the two of them when Jade's Mom, Kylie West came in.

"Oh sweetie, what did you do? C'mon, let's go, the hospital is waiting." Jade's Mom said in a sympathetic voice, knowing how hard the break up was on her daughter. Jade tried to stand, but her legs shook.

"I can't sta-" Cat swooped under her arm and pulled her up. "Thanks C." Jade smiled. Kylie glanced at the girls and smiled herself. Whoever made her daughter smile was good in her book.

"C'mon girls, lets go." Jade nodded in goodbye to Andre and left the room, her girl tucked under her arm.

When they came back to school the next day, Jade had her left hand wrapped in gauze, and in a sling to not disrupt the stitches and her right hand was linked to Cat's left hand, their fingers intertwine. Again the students stared. As lunch came around, Jade had threatened to beat up seven people for making comments. The two girls sat at a different table then their usual one, but they could still see the old one, and the old one could see them.

Andre got up and sat next to them, as did Trina, much to Jade's chagrin. Robbie was heartbroken; Jade smirked at him and kissed Cat soundly when she knew he was looking. Beck smiled and told her that he was happy she was happy, but stayed at the old table with Tori and Robbie. Tori was floored, even tried to talk Cat out of dating Jade, with Jade standing right next to her.

Beck left Jade.

For Tori.

And it was the best thing that ever happened, even when it didn't seem like it at the time.

_The End_


End file.
